Glial coverage in the optic nerve expands in proportion to optic axon loss in chronic mouse glaucoma.

ABSTRACT: Within the white matter, axonal loss by neurodegeneration is coupled to glial cell changes in gene expression, structure and function commonly termed gliosis. Recently, we described the highly variable expansion of gliosis [e-mail] in degenerative optic nerves from the DBA/2J mouse model of chronic, age-related glaucoma. Here, to estimate and compare the levels of axonal loss with the expansion of glial coverage and axonal degeneration in DBA/2J nerves, we combined semiautomatic axon counts with threshold-based segmentation of total glial/scar areas and degenerative axonal profiles in plastic cross-sections. In nerves ranging from mild to severe degeneration, we found that the progression of axonal dropout is coupled to an increase of gliotic area. We detected a strong corre

SUBMITTER: Bosco A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4972706 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature